artists
Leif Berger
Leif Berger
Leif Berger, born in 1995 in Münster, came into contact with music of various origins in his early childhood and started playing the drums at the age of two. As a nine-year-old he took lessons with Benedikt Bönniger, at age 17 he also took piano lessons with Hans-Dieter Otto, and in 2013 he eventually commenced his study of music in Cologne with Jonas Burgwinkel.
He has since played with nationally and internationally renowned musicians such as Scott Robinson, Seamus Blake, Ben Monder, Hubert Nuss, Frank Gratkowski, Pablo Held, Niels Klein, Elias Stemeseder, Simon Nabatov, Christopher Dell, Wanja Slavin, Philipp Gropper, Jonas Westergaard, Robert Landfermann, Achim Kaufmann etc. However, Leif has also worked with artists beyond the jazz realm, such as the new music composer Ole Hübner, the directors Harriet Maria and Peter Meining (two seasons at the Deutsche Oper Berlin), pop producer Tytus Lesczyinski or the commercially successful rapper AzudemSK.
Concert tours have taken him throughout Europe, but also beyond its borders, and to festivals such as Jazzfest Bonn, moers festival, c/o Pop, Jazzablanca and KLAENG.
Leif received the Claas-Willeke Soloist Prize (HfM Jazzpreis Saar 2015), a scholarship by the Werner Richard, Dr. Carl Dörken Foundation (2016, with SALOMEA) and was a finalist for the New German Jazz Prize (2018, with SALOMEA).
Leif is bandleader and composer of his trio »Hinweis auf die Sonne« as well as the »Leif Berger Sextett«. He has also released four solo albums since 2018, featuring him on piano and keyboard. Furthermore, he is featured on more than 20 album releases.
Since October 2018, Leif has been teaching jazz drums as his main subject at the Institute of Music at the University of Osnabrück.